Kominicki: I came upon a child of God, he was walking the LIE

This year, Long Island celebrates the 30th anniversary of the 10th anniversary of Woodstock.

This little bit of historical obscurity comes to us courtesy of developer Ron Parr, who back in 1977 assumed reluctant ownership of a Yaphank horse track when the original builder defaulted on the project.

Parr decided his best hope for a profit was to open the nearly completed track, and the hastily renamed Parr Meadows went on to a successful 113-day racing season before closing under the weight of financial shenanigans and attempted mob infiltration that had Parr wearing both a wire and a sidearm.

The resulting lawsuits dragged on longer than “The Sopranos,” with only slightly fewer bodies.

The idea for a Woodstock anniversary concert surfaced in the spring of 1979. Parr, with a boarded-up and bankrupt racetrack on his hands, understandably loved the idea.

The Sept. 7 show featured a dozen or so of the original cast, including Richie Havens, Johnny Winter, Stephen Stills and the remnants of Canned Heat. John Sebastian, who had famously urged the original Woodstock crowd to love each other and pick up a little trash on the way out, was also there, as was fish-cheering Country Joe McDonald.

Long Island’s “Woodstock Reunion” concert was taped and later aired by the King Biscuit Flower Hour, the long-running syndicated radio series. There is also at least one bootleg CD out there called “Live at Parr Meadows” and featuring former Band guitarist Rick Danko and blues great Paul Butterfield. You can download or listen to performances from the Parr Meadows concert at Wolfgang’s Vault, a Web site devoted to musical arcane. Most of the early King Biscuit archives were destroyed in a 1982 fire, so Wolfgang’s treasures are indeed rarities.

Parr is not thrilled with my news about the King Biscuit deal, because he was promised a cut of post-concert recording sales and has never seen a check. That aside, he remembers the concert fondly, in part because it went off without damage or even a single liability claim. And unlike the original Woodstock, where there was a heroin overdose and a guy in a sleeping bag crushed by a tractor, there were also no serious medical emergencies.

Back in 1979, the first of the 40,000 concertgoers started showing up the day before, lining their cars along William Floyd Parkway and several miles of the LIE. As temperatures dropped that night, the crowd lit bonfires made of Pine Barrens timber, and by morning a raucous throng was crowding the gates as a small force from Patron Security and the SCPD looked on. Fearing a riot, the promoters opened up at 6 a.m., then quickly gave up trying to control traffic in or out or limit the influx of food, drink or inhalants.

“The cloud of pot smoke was so thick,” Parr remembers, “you had to wave your arms to get through.”

The show started at 8 a.m. and went past midnight, to generally favorable reviews. The last of those standing were finally herded out at dawn; the over-served were hauled out sometime after that. Parr’s take of the gate and concession sales totaled less than $30,000.

“It wasn’t worth all the trouble,” he concedes.

Yes, but the original concert lost $1.3 million.

Unlike Max Yasgur’s famous farm near Woodstock, which remains as revered as the fields of Fatima, Parr Meadows is stubbled with brush and weeds today, the property sold and the grandstand razed to make way for a housing deal, then an office park, most recently a warehouse, none of them ever built.

Too bad, because the Woodstock anniversary season is once more upon us, and Long Island could surely use a little summer loving.

On the broader stage, Woodstock Nation appears to have moved from the I Ching to the ka-ching.

Joel Rosenman and Michael Lang, two of the original promoters, are still kicking around plans for an official 40th anniversary show, but there are dozens of other tributes planned, including a Heroes of Woodstock tour featuring Melanie and a Jefferson Starship lineup that, as always, will depend on who’s speaking to whom. There is also word of a possible Berlin concert featuring Woodstock veterans Santana, Joe Cocker, The Who, Neil Young, The Grateful Dead and Joan Baez.

On the retail front, Target is readying a “Summer of Love” push for merchandise featuring the iconic songbird-and-guitar Woodstock logo, drawn by artist Arnold Skolnick right here on Shelter Island. Coming soon is the Ang Lee film “Taking Woodstock,” based on the memoir of Elliot Tiber, the Bethel motel operator and occasional arts festival organizer who had the $18 permit that allowed the original music festival to take place.

Brad Littleproud and Joanne Hague, authors of the just-released “Woodstock: Peace, Music and Memories,” one of more than a dozen books being produced for the anniversary, are also running a Facebook group that hopes to amass 500,000 fans of a virtual Yasgur’s farm in cyberspace.

Thanks John for the trip down memory lane, and for reminding me how old we are. 🙂 I had completely forgotten about that concert, but yes a splendid time was had by all. I hope it is included in the soon to be built LI Music Hall of Fame.

Hey, everybody. Anthony Pomes here with Square One Publishers in Garden City Park. We’re the indie book publisher responsible for Elliot Tiber’s memoir TAKING WOODSTOCK, and we are releasing a new “movie tie-in” paperback version of the book starting June 1. Go to our website or to Amazon.com and check out this groovy new version of the book – it’s one of the best summer reads you’ll get this season, and you’ll feel the pride of knowing that a little Long Island book publisher made it all happen! Here’s to a great summer!!

I love this column!!! Always a cool trip down memory lane. I didn’t go to Woodstock (my protective Italian father wouldn’t let any of his daughters go), but my husband did. To this day, he lauds it over me and never fails to tell our nieces and nephews and all the young people in our lives what an event it was. The music, the camaraderie and then he talks about all the mud!!!

Speaking of Italian parents, I went to Woodstock and never told them! It was one of the most incredible experiences in my life! I was studying in Oneonta and just went along for the ride- I was so dumb that I thought it was a one night concert! We actually went in one of those orange VW vans and we had at least 15 people inside that thing! What a weekend! I’ll never forget it!